NEWTON COUNTY — The Newton County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the addition of eight new detention officer positions for the Newton County Sheriff’s Office (NCSO) at their Jan. 6 meeting. 

Ruben Brambila, NCSO budget director, provided an overview of the sheriff’s office and its recent budgets to the commissioners. Per the presentation, the NCSO has about 281 active employees, with 105 of them serving the jails and detention centers and 528 inmates in the county. 

Brambila shared that the NCSO’s total expenses in the 2025 fiscal year were 39.5 million dollars, with 26.8 million going to personnel and 12.7 million to operations. 

Rising costs of inmate care and employee benefits have cost the department an overage of 2.3 million dollars of the awarded budget, Brambila added. Despite cost increases, the current operating award that the department received in the 2025 fiscal year is $1,098,527 less than it was in the 2023 fiscal year. 

Brambilla’s presentation said that, historically, the sheriff’s office had tried to be conservative with its spending. From 2020 to 2024, 4.8 million dollars were reportedly saved or unspent and returned to Newton County. 

It also shared that for the 2026 fiscal year, only 41.5% of the department’s requested budget was awarded. Brambila said that there have been strategies implemented to cut costs, like delaying purchases when necessary and having all purchases go through the finance team, but there is only so much that can be cut. 

The NCSO’s Director of Operations Brandy Burch presented the actual request to the commissioners, stating that the sheriff’s office has not been awarded any new positions since the 2022 fiscal year. 

Burch stated that the department needs the detention officer positions due to being short-staffed and an increase in eligible applicants.

“When a person in law enforcement applies for a position, they’re applying at several different agencies around that local area,” Burch said. “The first one that calls them, that’s the one going to go with. So, if we don’t have a position to put them in, they’re going to that agency and then we lose out on that eligible applicant.” 

During commissioner comments, District 5 Commissioner LeAnne Long commended the NCSO but had concerns about the presentation and the budget awarded. She said that the budget that the commissioners previously awarded was due to the knowledge that they had, and that there was no awareness of an overage. 

“As far as the people that y’all need to hire eight people immediately, I don’t think anyone has a problem with that,” Long said. “I think we have to look at all different stances of where all the money comes from.”

Sheriff Ezell Brown, who took the podium last, said that due to the economic downturn in 2010, members of the detention office staff were laid off and the department has not recovered since.  

“We laid off 22 individuals, most of them from the jail,” Brown said. “I know we always talk about that layoff but we have not recouped that. I think, if you see what we have presented, the proof is in the pudding.” 

Brown said that recent staffing analysis shows that the jail is short 50 officers. He further stated that the most important aspect of the issue was the safety of the officers and inmates. 

“Make a decision to protect staff. Make a decision to protect the inmates,” Brown said. “I want to see everyone go back home and every single one of the inmates uninjured.” 

Interim District 3 Commissioner Andre Cooper, who has a career in law enforcement and worked at the NCSO previously, also agreed that the detention centers were in need of staff and commended how Brown ran the staff. 

“I know, over the years, we haven’t been too kind as far as money asked,” Cooper said. “We need to take a good hard look at this.” 

Ultimately, the measure was passed unanimously by the commissioners, 5-0.